Beverage brands are getting fresh on Instagram. The ones who have found their sweet spot are winning the social media marketing game. But what does it mean to be among the best beverage brands on Instagram?
There isn’t a one-can-fits-all strategy here. Each individual brand has its own plan and clever marketing know-how. We’re going to open them up and show you exactly who’s causing a stir. Plus, we’ll be telling you exactly what you can learn from them so you can shake up your own marketing strategy for the better. Feeling thirsty? Let’s dive in.
Contents:
- Instagram and the Beverage Industry
- Limitations for Beverage Brands on TikTok
- Top Alcohol Brands
- Top Soda Brands
- Top Premium Brands
- Top Coffee & Tea Brands
- Top Speciality Drink Brands
Instagram and the Beverage Industry
Instagram’s visual-centric platform makes it an ideal stage for beverage brands to engage audiences. It’s a place to show off your product and engage with the right kind of followers. Detailed product shots, behind-the-scenes brewing processes, and delicious cocktail recipes can all be found in the vibrant world of Instagram beverage marketing. That’s because it’s so visual. And that’s not about to change.
Limitations for Beverage Brands on TikTok
Don’t get us wrong, TikTok is an awesome place to market. But since it’s a video-only platform, it can become labor-intensive for drinks brands to keep up with content there. Since Instagram is a hybrid of photo posts and reels, beverage brands can utilize it to get different kinds of content out there consistently. It’s worth noting that TikTok has much stricter regulations around alcohol, which makes it challenging for brands in this sector to market on the platform.
The potential for a TikTok ban is also circulating, so if you want to make sure you’re building a consistent, engaged community of followers, we recommend a multichannel social media approach. Keep TikTok and Instagram to further your marketing efforts. You’ll thank us later.
So, looking specifically at Instagram, how can you ensure you nail it from the get-go? Let’s get into the hottest (and ice-cold) beverage brands, serving up some serious inspiration.
The Top Beverage Brands on Instagram
Top Alcohol Brands
1. Beefeater Gin
The famous London Dry Gin company has cracked the code when it comes to Instagram engagement. Their signature red and white brand colors adorn their profile feed. But they haven’t just made an aesthetically pleasing profile. They have created a highly engaged community of 116K followers who keep coming back for more. How? Interactive content. Through recipe ideas, collaborations with mixologists, and competitions, Beefeater has been winning on the app.
We’ve also worked with Beefeater on its Pink Gin range, bringing the product to life using influencers, and encouraging UGC across social, staking its claim as one of the top beverage brands on Instagram.
What can your brand learn from them?
Beefeater knows how to make their competitions relevant. To celebrate the King’s coronation in the UK, they released a new special edition bottle of gin – “Crown Jewel”. They announced a cocktail competition for the occasion and created visually engaging Reels to get people involved.
To double down on potential engagement, they collaborated with @diffordsguide – the authority publication on all things cocktail. Consider collaborating with other Instagram accounts to double your audience reach and boost engagement. Just make sure they are the right match for your campaign.
2. Casamigos
With a nostalgic aesthetic (we’re talking grainy videos and old-school vibes), this iconic tequila company led by George Clooney and Rande Gerber comes across as a warm, delicious hug. They lean into their roots with regular nods to the two celebrities at the forefront of it all.
What can your brand learn from them?
“Casamigos” means “house of friends.” The company shows this in its content beautifully. Through meaningful collaborations with chefs like @thomas_straker and lifestyle influencers like @nathanjolliffe. It feels like a curated set of friends sharing in the love of the brand. How did they make this happen? With carefully chosen partnerships. Metrics aren’t everything when it comes to influencer outreach. Ensure their Instagram accounts are aligned with your own brand values before entering any arrangement.
The Best Soda Brands on Instagram
3. Jarritos
This vibrant company’s Insta feed has the bio description: “The Official Instagram for @Jarritos Soda! Super Good photos Flavored by Culture!”. The photos flavored by culture are definitely accurate. Their content takes it back to the company’s Mexican roots with vibrant images, food, and, of course, the Jarritos drinks themselves.
What can your brand learn from them?
Jarritos sticks to its cultural roots even when it comes to brand ambassadors and collaborations. Most recently, they have been featuring family-run Mexican restaurants and food trucks for a campaign they’re calling “RESPECT THE TACO”. @lafamiliafoodtruck_indy showed off their delicious tacos alongside the refreshing beverages. These kinds of partnerships build serious engagement. With over 74.6k views on one reel and comments like “OMG, these look amazing! Tacos are my favorite food. I have to find this truck!” the engagement was definitely high. Stick to your roots and find the perfect influencer and brand collaborations based on your core values, then you’ll start to see traction just like Jarritos.
Premium Beverage Brands Killing Instagram
4. Dom Pérignon
This isn’t just champagne. This is a lifestyle. This legendary champagne house has created an Instagram feed that shows the Dom Perignon life through friends, wine and most importantly, creation. Heavily influenced by art and artists, they have formed some mighty partnerships. The most recent one? Lady Gaga.
What can your brand learn from them?
Dom Perignon’s new artistic campaign with Lady Gaga pulls out all the stops. But what’s important to note is that it isn’t based on the champagne or drinking it. It’s a whole world of creation, art, music, and dance. Dom Perignon has aligned itself with a mega influencer (celebrity) and created content that’s somewhat outside its immediate niche. Fans of Lady Gaga will, of course, be interested. Now you don’t have to work with such a superstar to get the same effect. There are some amazing influencers in different niches that can get you noticed within different communities. That’s key here, finding communities that will resonate with your product via targeted influencer campaigns. You don’t always have to stick to what you know. Just find someone who knows it better and partner with them. Dom Perignon is a best-in-class example of great beverage brands on Instagram.
5. Fiji Water
This premium water brand is making waves on social. They’re known for being the go-to water for numerous celebrities, and they don’t shy away from this. Their feed is full of famous faces and top-class influencers. Their content leans into the people who drink their products with posts on human connection and Fiji-drinking individuals.
What can your brand learn from them?
One of the Fiji focuses? Events. This brand has been sponsoring and supplying its water to numerous celebrity occasions, including the Grammys, the Emmys, and the Daily Front Row Awards. They post a lot about these events showing just how involved the brand gets. Events can be a great source of content when done correctly. Collaborating with other brands or event organizers, your brand has the opportunity to build relationships, a bank of content, and to expand your reach. If you really want to double down on that exposure, inviting the right influencers who align with your brand to these events will further increase brand awareness to niched but engaged audiences. Think about this when making plans for your next event.
Top Coffee & Tea Brands Instagram Accounts
6. Starbucks
Starbucks, with its nearly 19 million followers, uses its Instagram presence not just to showcase its drinks but to put forth its values, making it one of the best beverage brands on Instagram. The company regularly posts about its commitment to sustainability, diversity, and community engagement. To celebrate World Refugee Day they asked people to join them in their support of the Refugee Artisan Initiative (@refugeesarts). They even share inclusive community videos like @jasonhurdich (who is deaf) talking about how he communicated with his Starbucks Barista.
What can your brand learn from them?
Brands that showcase their values can generate a deeper connection with their audience. Starbucks’ focus on more than just product sales demonstrates to customers that they are more than just a profit-driven enterprise. But more than this, they back their claims up. They donate to NFPs and consistently show up for minority groups. To hammer their message in further, they collaborate with influencers from these groups. Take pride, for example. People are sick of seeing rainbow-washed brands and fake support posts. Starbucks partnered with @timpsingleton to create Starbucks cup art for their new pride editions. With just under 1200 comments and 16k likes, it’s safe to say that Starbs really is creating the right content for its audience.
7. Blue Bottle Coffee
Blue Bottle Coffee has a very distinct aesthetic on its Instagram feed, deserving its place among the best beverage brands on Instagram. They create a calming vibe with beautifully shot reels and stunning photos to promote its cafes, products, and coffee culture. The lo-fi beats and zen atmosphere they create is super addicting.
What can your brand learn from them?
By creating a distinct tone on Instagram you can create a place where your community will want to keep coming back for more and more. Blue Bottle Coffee even partner up with influencers who adhere to this feeling, creating cosy vlogs of their day. Imagine if you had an upbeat influencer showing you how to do a noisy shaken espresso drink with thumping music in the background. It would completely throw off the authority that Blue Bottle Coffee have tried so hard to create. So if you are sticking to a distinct aesthetic on your feed, make sure you collaborate with creators who will adhere to it (and make sure they align with it themselves, otherwise, their own feed will feel out of place).
8. Nespresso
Sitting on a following of over 825,000, Nespresso’s Instagram game is hot. Their feed is a luscious blend of tantalizing coffee shots, sleek machine aesthetics, and lifestyle snapshots that scream, “This could be you!”. Nespresso isn’t just selling coffee; they’re selling the Nespresso lifestyle.
But they don’t stop at pretty pictures. They take their followers on a behind-the-scenes tour of their sustainability journey, from recycling their aluminum capsules to supporting coffee farmers in distant regions. This makes Nespresso fans feel a part of the bigger picture – a caffeine-fueled community that gives back.
What can your brand learn from them?
Nespresso has mastered the art of selling the experience, not just the product. They give customers a reason to dream, aspire, and belong. But what sets them apart is the way they do it. They still manage to be educational and informative whilst retaining that signature Nespresso lifestyle. Even their recipe videos feel like a snippet of a movie. They have collaborated with influencers like @llesdeux with videos that sweep you away into a world of cozy. It’s definitely inspirational.
The Best Speciality & Functional drink brands on Instagram
9. TRIP Drinks
Goat has been working with one of the most exciting brands within the emerging CBD space, helping the brand accelerate its customer growth through influencers. We’ve partnered with influencers from a variety of verticals to create scroll-stopping content across Instagram, leading to a measurable uplift in sales.
Trip drinks are the ultimate lifestyle companion, that’s the vibe we’re getting from the brand’s Instagram feed. The content feels like a breath of fresh air, almost like the weight of the world has been gently removed. High-quality product shots, friends enjoying Trip drinks, tranquil oceans and palm beaches make up the brand’s vibe on Instagram, which feels like a perfect alignment to the product they offer. It’s calming, it’s soothing, it’s untethered from the noise of social media. What more can you ask for?
10. Synergy Kombucha
Whether you love it or loathe it, Kombucha is still a very popular drink. More and more brands have tapped into the desire for it, and Synergy is hands down one of the most engaging Kombucha brands around. Their Instagram strategy is also super fresh. With spiritual content as well as posts about the product itself, this brand has gained a following of 256k. And they’re super engaged.
What can your brand learn from them?
Synergy understands its audience. They’ve got a great comprehension of what their customers and potential customers want from content. To build such a great following they have shared posts about spiritual healing, gut health, overall wellness and fitness too. These topics are sure to attract the right demographics for their products. So when you’re thinking about your content strategy, look at the bigger picture. Understanding the other interests your audience might have will help you establish what content to create.
11. Punchy
On Instagram, Punchy is simply fun. They have a vibrant aesthetic to their line of non-alcoholic punches. This also comes across in their consistent color palette and reinforces brand recognition. Of course, as they are a vitamin D speciality drink, it’s only natural they’d lean into sunny vibes.
What can your brand learn from them?
Keep it consistent on your Instagram feed, not only in colors and tone but also in posting times, collabs, and announcements. You want to build a cohesive brand image and create that all-important trust with your customers. Since Punchy has such distinct coordinated posts, it makes the brand instantly recognizable. To achieve this, you need to take a page out of their book. Stick to a specific tone of voice and aesthetic, and keep posting. When you utilize the power of influencer marketing, make sure that stays in line with your content too.
12. PRIME
KSI and Logan Paul’s PRIME is marketing gold. The brand is now a key sponsor for the UFC, Barcelona FC, Arsenal and more. Across social, fans of the YouTubers have been treated to WWE stunts, a life-size PRIME bottle being jumped on and tackled. and a PRIME truck driving around handing out free samples.
PRIME’s brand guidelines are too be loud, disruptive, and energetic to tie in with the personalitites of the two creators that spearhead the brand.
What can your brand learn from them?
For brands looking to collaborate with influencers on a product or brand launch, the personalities of the creator must be reflected in order to truly capture the attention of their audience. In this case, KSI and Logan have brought PRIME to the mainstream, in the same dramatic and explosive context that propelled the two creators to stardom.
So how can beverage brands shake up their Instagram marketing?
- Create innovative, interactive, and engaging content
- Utilize the power of influencers to showcase brand values
- Focus on selling an experience, rather than just products
- Get to know your audience through community engagement, and cater content to their preferences
- Nail the creative, and reinforce brand recognition through consistency
Final thoughts – Beverage Brands on Instagram
Instagram is a thriving platform for beverage brands looking to elevate their social media strategies. We’re seeing brands maximise the potential of Instagram in a number of different ways, and their success can be attributed to unique approaches and clever marketing tactics.
For example, Starbucks sets itself apart by showcasing its values, and supporting causes, showing audiences that there’s more to the brand than products. Premium brands like Dom Perignon go beyond their products, aligning with art, music and culture. We’re also seeing brands partner with influencers, and tapping into different niches to expand their reach.
Each brand has developed its own unique approach, aesthetic, tone of voice, and overall persona that resonates with its intended audience.
Are you a beverage brand looking to freshen things up on Instagram? The Goat Agency has over 8 years experience, specializing in social media marketing in the food and beverage sector. To find out more about how we launch industry-leading campaigns, contact us today!
